Movements and Resistance – Page 22

March 9, 2011

Ann Wright: Crime and (Disparate) Punishment for US Soldiers

Published on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 by CommonDreams.org

Crime and (Disparate) Punishment for US Soldiers

Army Private Bradley Manning faces a death sentence while Army Specialist who mutilated the body of an Afghan gets “supervised chores”

The U.S. government is clearly signaling that murdering, raping, mutilating and assaulting are not nearly as serious as allegedly making available to the public documents that reveal embarrassing and/or criminal actions of senior government officials.

Last Wednesday, U.S. Army Specialist Corey Moore was sentenced at Fort Lewis, Washington, by a military judge for a mere to 60 days of “hard labor” and a bad-conduct discharge for mutilating the corpse of an Afghan civilian, assaulting Adam Winfield, a soldier in his unit who whistle blew on the murder and mutilation of Afghan civilians, and smoking hashish over a period of several months.

In contrast, the previous day, March 1, the U.S. Army filed 22 additional offenses, including “aiding the enemy” which is punishable by death, against alleged whistleblower Pfc. Bradley Manning. The first charges against Manning included leaking classified information, disobeying an order and general misconduct.

If found guilty, Manning could be sentenced to life imprisonment or death for exposing documents that show numerous criminal acts committed by officials of the U.S. government.

For mutilating a body and assaulting a fellow soldier, according to Army spokeswoman Major Kathleen Turner, Moore’s “hard labor” sentence will be carried out in Moore’s unit, not in a prison. Turner said that a supervisor from his unit will give him a list of tasks and chores to do each day to be performed under guard.

Manning is in his eighth months of pre-trial solitary confinement in a military prison and has been subjected to emotional and psychological torture, most recently being forced to remain nude for extend periods in his isolated cell.

Twelve soldiers, all members of the Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Division’s Stryker brigade, based in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar region, are accused of the executions and mutilations of Afghan civilians.

Moore did not face charges of killing the person whose corpse he defiled by stabbing. None of the soldiers so far convicted were accused of murdering Afghan civilians.

The trial of Specialist Jeremy Morlock, who is the first to face murder charges in the deaths of the Afghan civilians, is facing three counts of murder. His trial was delayed on March 2.

Moore the Mutilator has “Potential” says his defense attorney

Incredibly in her closing argument, Moore’s defense attorney, Captain Vanessa Mull, said Moore had “incredible potential,” and asked the military judge to recognize that potential by allowing him to remain in the service.

The military judge rejected her request and sentenced Moore to “supervised chores” and a dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Army, but no prison time.

Ann Wright is a 29 year US Army/Army Reserves veteran who retired as a Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in March, 2003 in opposition to the war on Iraq. She served in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia and Mongolia. In December, 2001 she was on the small team that reopened the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is the co-author of the book “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.” (www.voicesofconscience.com)

March 7, 2011

Army identifies Schofield soldier who committed suicide

According to an AP article, the Army has identified the Schofield soldier who killed herself on March 4:

The 8th Theater Sustainment Command said Monday Pvt. Galina M. Klippel is survived by her husband and foster mother. The 24-year old laundry and textile specialist is from Anchorage, Alaska.

Klippel enlisted in the Army in 2007 and had been assigned to the 540th Quartermaster Company for one month. She deployed to Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010.

She died at Wahiawa General Hospital Friday evening. The incident began about two hours earlier when military and federal police officers responded to a report of a soldier brandishing a weapon.

After police surrounded the area, Klippel retreated to the inside of a vehicle, where she fired the fatal shot.

March 7, 2011

Anger Spreads Over Kevin Maher’s Derogatory Comments on Okinawans

Satoko Norimatsu of the Peace Philosophy Centre posted the more information about the derogatory comments made by State Department official Kevin Maher about Okinawans:

Anger Spreads Over Kevin Maher’s Derogatory Comments on Okinawans

Kevin Maher

On December 3, 2010, Kevin Maher, Director of the Office of Japan Affairs and former U.S. Consul-General of Okinawa gave a lecture to the fourteen students of American University (Washington, DC) who were going to visit Okinawa to learn about the issues surrounding US military bases there. Kyodo News Agency, Okinawan newspapers Ryukyu Shimpo and Okinawa Taimusu, and other media reported it on March 7, 2011, and anger quickly spread through Okinawa over Maher’s numerous derogatory remarks about Okinawa and its people. The March 8 edition of Ryukyu Shimpo ran almost five full pages of special reports, analyses, an editorial that calls for dismissal of Maher, a response from US Embassy in Tokyo saying Maher’s views did not represent the US government at all, and critical comments from former Governor of Okinawa Ota Masahide, citizens, politicians and scholars in Okinawa and Japan. Ota says Maher is one who “endorsed the Henoko plan, so we should use this opportunity to crush the plan.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE INCLUDING THE TEXT OF THE NOTES TAKEN BY AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS FROM MAHER’S TALK

March 7, 2011

U.S. diplomat called Okinawans ‘masters of manipulation and extortion’ on Futenma issue

A U.S. diplomat who had previously been posted to Japan and Okinawa was quoted by students from American University as calling Okinawans ‘lazy’ and ‘masters of manipulation and extortion’ on the issue of the Futenma base. It no wonder why the Okinawans demanded his removal from Okinawa after he questioned why local authorities were allowing the construction of homes in the vicinity surrounding Futenma air station.

The Japan Times reports:

A U.S. official in charge of Japanese affairs at the State Department is said to have likened the Japanese cultural principle of maintaining social harmony to “extortion” and described Okinawans as “lazy” during a speech in Washington late last year.

According to a written account compiled by students who attended the lecture at the State Department, Kevin Maher, head of the Japanese affairs office and a former consul general in Okinawa Prefecture, described Okinawan people as “masters of manipulation and extortion” when dealing with the central government.

The article goes on:

Maher gave the speech Dec. 3 at the request of American University to a group of 14 students who were about to embark on a roughly two-week study tour of Tokyo and Okinawa.

In the speech, Maher was quoted as saying, “Consensus building is important in Japanese culture. While the Japanese would call this ‘consensus,’ they mean ‘extortion’ and use this culture of consensus as a means of extortion.

“By pretending to seek consensus, people try to get as much money as possible,” he said.

Maher also criticized the people of Okinawa as “too lazy to grow ‘goya’ (bitter gourd),” a traditional summer vegetable in the prefecture, according to the account.

Maher served as the consul general in Okinawa from 2006 to 2009 after joining the State Department in 1981 and being posted to Tokyo and Fukuoka.

In the summer of 2008, while he was posted in Okinawa, Maher sparked controversy after questioning why the local authorities were allowing the construction of homes in the residential area around the Futenma air base. Plaintiffs seeking damages over noise from the U.S. base then presented him with a written demand calling on him to immediately leave Okinawa.

Magosaki, former head of the international intelligence office at the Foreign Ministry, said he had the impression that “U.S. officials in charge of recent U.S.-Japan negotiations shared ideas like those of Mr. Maher,” adding “in that sense, his remarks were not especially distorted.”

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Who needs Wikileaks when State Department officials are willing to put their own feet in their mouths? Meanwhile, as the Financial Times reports, Secretary of State Clinton warned Congress about the waning U.S. influence in the Asia Pacific region vis a vis China:

In an appearance before Congress, Mrs Clinton highlighted the “unbelievable” competition with China for influence over islands in the Pacific, with development of Papua New Guinea’s “huge” energy reserves one of the key issues at stake.

Arguing against proposed cuts to the state department budget, she added that the US was already losing an “information war” to al-Jazeera, the Arab news channel, with Russia and China increasing their international broadcasting as Washington and London pulled back.

“We are in a competition for influence with China; let’s put aside the moral, humanitarian, do-good side of what we believe in, and let’s just talk straight realpolitik,” she told the Senate foreign relations committee, as she appealed to its members to keep state department funding intact.

The waning U.S. influence may be more related to the arrogant policies of the U.S. as reflected in the statements of Mr. Maher than any cut in funding for the state department or competition from China.

March 6, 2011March 10, 2011

“She committed suicide”: Schofield soldier died of ‘self-inflicted’ gunshot wound

Yesterday, I wrote a short post about a Schofield Barracks soldier who was barricaded in a car with a gun and later went to the hospital from a gunshot wound. The soldier died shortly after being taken to the hospital.

The Honolulu Star Advertiser and Associated Press carried stories about the apparent suicide. The identity of the victim has not been released pending notification of the family, but a commenter on this blog wrote:

She commited suicide. She was pronounced dead in Wahiawa last night around 2000.

Other details or circumstances of the incident have not yet been made public.

March 5, 2011March 10, 2011

Attempted suicide by Schofield soldier?

According to KHON News, yesterday Army MPs responded to a soldier barricaded in a vehicle with a gun. The soldier suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital. Was this an attempted suicide?

>><<

Source: http://www.khon2.com/news/local/story/Army-police-respond-to-barricade-situation/taoTFAYZo0e02IajAhfTWQ.cspx

Army police respond to barricade situation

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii –

At approximately 5:30 p.m., Army law enforcement responded to an emergency call regarding a Soldier brandishing a weapon on post.

Military police cordoned off the area, while the individual was barricaded in a vehicle.

Federal Fire and EMS personnel also reported to the scene.

The individual suffered a gunshot wound was taken to Wahiawa General Hospital for treatment.

The incident is under investigation, and the condition of the individual is unknown at this time.

March 2, 2011

Uranium travels nerves from nose to brain

Two articles in Environmental Health News review technical reports on new discoveries about the effects of depleted uranium on the body. In “Uranium travels nerves from nose to brain”, the author writes:

Radioactive uranium that is inhaled by soldiers on the battlefield and by workers in factories may bypass the brain’s protective barrier by following nerves from the nose directly to the brain.

Nerves can act as a unique conduit, carrying inhaled uranium from the nose directly to the brain, finds a study with rats. Once in the brain, the uranium may affect task and decision-related types of thinking.

This study provides yet another example of how some substances can use the olfactory system – bypassing the brain’s protective blood barrier – to go directly to the brain. Titanium nanoparticles and the metals manganese, nickel, and thallium have been shown to reach the brain using the same route.

In another article, “Depleted and enriched uranium affect DNA in different ways,” the author writes:

Meticulous research identifies for the first time how two main types of uranium – enriched and depleted – damage a cell’s DNA by different methods. The manner – either by radiation or by its chemical properties as a metal – depends upon whether the uranium is processed or depleted.

This study shows that both types of uranium may carry a health risk because they both affect DNA in ways that can lead to cancer.

Why does it matter? Regulatory agencies determine safe uranium exposure based on the metal’s radioactive effects. Currently, safe exposure levels for workers and military personnel are based on enriched uranium – which is the more radioactive form and is considered to have a higher cancer risk than depleted uranium. Uranium exposure has been shown to affect bone, kidney, liver, brain, lung, intestine and the reproductive system.

Yet, many people are exposed at work or through military activities to the less radioactive, depleted form. They may not be adequately protected based on current methods that evaluate uranium’s health risks.

The study found that depleted uranium could cause genetic damage by its toxicity rather than its radiological effect:

However, the depleted uranium had a different type of effect. It altered the number of chromosomes in the cell. These effects are due to improper migration of chromosomes when cells divide. This type of damage – called aneugenic damage – was not related to the amount of radiation the cells received and was likely caused by the metal properties of uranium.

The methods used in this study clearly provide a new way to assess the different types of genetic harm caused by uranium. The findings will help ferret out whether the genetic damage caused by the depleted uranium also carries a high risk of causing cancer, which is something those who work with or are around the metal want to know. Further study is warranted to truly assess human health risks.

February 28, 2011

One Creature That Deserves Extinction: the V-22 Osprey

John Feffer wrote the following article about the resistance to the expansion of the U.S. base in Takae, Okinawa. Construction has commenced with forcible removal of protesters. When protesters took their demands to the U.S. Embassy, several were arrested and physically assaulted. Note that one of the aircraft being protested is the V-22 Osprey, the same aircraft proposed for the Marine Corps Base Hawai’i Kaneohe Bay.

>><<

http://www.fpif.org/blog/one_creature_that_deserves_extinction_the_v-22_osprey

One Creature That Deserves Extinction: the V-22 Osprey

By John Feffer, February 25, 2011

V22 Osprey

Some animals should be endangered. Consider the V-22 Osprey. The tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane, costs more than a $100 million apiece, killed 30 personnel in crashes during its development stage, and survived four attempts by none other than Dick Cheney to deep-six the program. Although it is no longer as crash-prone as it once was, the Osprey’s performance in Iraq was still sub-par and it remains a woefully expensive creature. Although canceling the program would save the U.S. government $10-12 billion over the next decade, the Osprey somehow avoided the budget axe in the latest round of cuts on Capitol Hill.

It’s bad enough that U.S. taxpayers have to continue to support the care and feeding of this particular Osprey. Worse, we’re inflicting the bird on others.

In a small village in the Yanbaru Forest in northern Okinawa, the residents of Takae have been fighting non-stop to prevent the construction of six helipads designed specifically for the V-22. The protests have been going on since the day in 2007 when Japanese construction crews tried to prepare the site for the helipads. “Since that day, over 10,000 locals, mainland Japanese, and foreign nationals have participated in a non-stop sit-in outside the planned helipad sites,” writes Jon Mitchell at Foreign Policy In Focus. “So far, they’ve managed to thwart any further construction attempts. At small marquee tents, the villagers greet visitors with cups of tea and talk them through their campaign, highlighting their message with hand-written leaflets and water-stained maps.”

Yanbaru

It’s all part of the plan that would shut down the aging Futenma air base in Okinawa, relocate some of the Marines to Guam, and build a new facility elsewhere in Okinawa. The overwhelming majority of Okinawans oppose this plan. They want to shut down Futenma, and they don’t want any new U.S. military bases.

But the Japanese government has essentially knuckled under to U.S. pressure to move forward with the agreement. Building these helipads in a subtropical forest, with a wide range of unusual wildlife, is all part of the deal.

The recently re-elected Okinawan governor Hirokazu Nakaima opposes the relocation plan. And, according to Pacific Daily News, “Nakaima may actually have the authority to disrupt the plan because of his authority under the Japan Public Water Reclamation Act, which gives the Okinawa governor final authority over reclaimed land.” Washington has said that it won’t move forward on the deal without local support.

The Osprey is a budget-busting beast. The Okinawans don’t want it. Both Tokyo and Washington are desperate to trim spending.

The V-22 is one animal well worth driving toward extinction.

February 24, 2011

Another Runaway General: Army Deploys Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators

Rolling Stone published an expose of U.S. Army psyops against visiting members of congress. If they are using these tactics against elected officials, why should we not expect that they would use the same techniques against members of the public? According to the article:

The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in “psychological operations” to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators.

The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops – the linchpin of U.S. strategy in the war. Over a four-month period last year, a military cell devoted to what is known as “information operations” at Camp Eggers in Kabul was repeatedly pressured to target visiting senators and other VIPs who met with Caldwell. When the unit resisted the order, arguing that it violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of propaganda against American citizens, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation.

“My job in psy-ops is to play with people’s heads, to get the enemy to behave the way we want them to behave,” says Lt. Colonel Michael Holmes, the leader of the IO unit, who received an official reprimand after bucking orders. “I’m prohibited from doing that to our own people. When you ask me to try to use these skills on senators and congressman, you’re crossing a line.”

Holmes consulted a JAG attorney:

On March 23rd, Holmes emailed the JAG lawyer who handled information operations, saying that the order made him “nervous.” The lawyer, Capt. John Scott, agreed with Holmes. “The short answer is that IO doesn’t do that,” Scott replied in an email. “[Public affairs] works on the hearts and minds of our own citizens and IO works on the hearts and minds of the citizens of other nations. While the twain do occasionally intersect, such intersections, like violent contact during a soccer game, should be unintentional.

But what really is the difference between “public affairs” and “information operations” besides the titles? In Hawai’i, the Army has paid big bucks to Native Hawaiian consultants to conduct “public affairs” and win hearts and minds in the Native Hawaiian community.

After questioning the illegal orders, the article describes, Holmes came under investigation for trumped up charges, which he believed were in retaliation. The final outcome?

As for the operation targeting U.S. senators, there is no way to tell what, if any, influence it had on American policy. What is clear is that in January 2011, Caldwell’s command asked the Obama administration for another $2 billion to train an additional 70,000 Afghan troops – an initiative that will already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $11 billion this year. Among the biggest boosters in Washington to give Caldwell the additional money? Sen. Carl Levin, one of the senators whom Holmes had been ordered to target.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

February 23, 2011

“The visit is over”: Bahrain: Uprising Against the US-backed Regime Gains Critical Mass

Finian Cunningham reports in Global Research that:

Bahrain’s uprising against the US-backed ruling elite is gathering critical mass, with the Persian Gulf island state seeing the biggest demonstration ever last night. Some 200,000 people took the main highway leading to the financial district in the capital, Manama, shouting in unison for the regime to go.

Their protest is now firmly established at Pearl Square, where tents have been erected and basic amenities installed to cope with the thousands who now camp there nightly. In deliberate replication of the demonstrations at Tahrir Square in Egypt’s capital, Cairo, the protesters in Bahrain are saying that they are not moving until their demands are met.

Men, women and children have lost their fear. After a brutal crackdown by the state last week, which resulted in seven civilians murdered and hundreds injured, failed to crush the uprising, the people are now increasingly emboldened and determined to demand the overthrow of the Al Khalifa regime.

People have found their voice to demand what they have been wanting for many decades – for, what they see, as an imposter regime to go; to get out of their lives and their island.

The origin of the conflict is a 200 year old occupation by a foreign tribe that came to occupy the island:

Bahrainis have long memories regarding the nature and origin of the regime. Over and over, the protesters will tell you that they have had enough of the Al Khalifas’ predatory rule.

One small, makeshift placard held by a group of young teenagers said in Arabic: “The visit is over”.

Many indigenous Bahrainis (about 600,000 of the total one million present population) can trace their family origins back to the time of “Prophet Issa” (Jesus) and beyond.

They view the ruling Al Khalifa family as something of an imposter that has abused the civility of the Bahraini people for the past 200 years. It is not a gross oversimplification of history when Bahrainis relate how the Al Khalifas originated from a Bedouin tribe in what became central Saudi Arabia and voyaged around the Persian Gulf as pirates and renegades seeking a base.

After being kicked out of Zubarah (later Qatar), the Al Khalifas settled in Bahrain. With the help of the British Empire, they became rulers of the island in return for British “protection”. Bahrain, as an ancient trading hub, bestowed on the indigenous people a certain cosmopolitan, civilized attitude. They were fishermen, farmers, boat makers and artisans who were able to make a good living from the island’s rich natural resources, which included abundant freshwater aquifers.

The impact on the native people of the island is reminiscent of conditions in Hawai’i and other small islands under foreign occupation:

“When I was a boy, my family used to fish here. We always had plenty to eat and we would sell fish at the market. Now I don’t have any work.” He pointed to the ground beneath the skyscrapers and said: “This used to be sea. This is where we used to live.”

Bahrain also happens to be the site of a major U.S. military base and home to the 5th Fleet. It is not clear how demonstrators feel about the U.S. bases, but it’s a good bet that the uprising is making U.S. elites nervous.